ShipRecycling Pages:

23 December 2016

No more dead workers! Call on Berge Bulk to commit to responsible ship recycling

Brussels, 20 December 2016 – The Berge Stahl,
one of the world’s largest iron ore bulkers, made its last visit at the Port of
Rotterdam last week. The NGO Shipbreaking Platform calls on the ship owner,
Berge Bulk, and the Dutch authorities to ensure the responsible recycling of
the 30 year old vessel. Berge Bulk, founded and lead by James Marshall and
headquartered in Singapore, is one of the world’s largest operators of dry
bulkers and has recently sold several of its end-of-life ships to substandard
shipbreaking yards on the beaches of South Asia. At least two workers were
killed and four more injured at Seiko Steel shipbreaking yard in Bangladesh
earlier this year while the bulker company’s Berge Matterhorn was under
demolition there. The Berge Stahl has called at Rotterdam’s ore terminal 249
times over the last 25 years. It was for a long time the largest dry bulk
vessel in the world and considered to be the Port of Rotterdam’s unofficial
‘flag ship’. The Port of Rotterdam bid farewell to its iconic ship last week.

“Both the Port of Rotterdam and the Dutch
authorities must have an interest in the responsible recycling of its ‘flag
ship’ that made many in the port proud and regularly attracted fans. We call on
Berge Bulk, a company so far known for irresponsible shipbreaking practices
with fatal consequences to see this as an opportunity to review its scrapping
practices and commit to responsible recycling”, says Patrizia Heidegger,
Executive Director of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform. “For a company that claims
that ‘sustainability is at the core of everything we do’ and promises ‘people
first’ and ‘clean planet’, ship recycling in a modern facility off the beach is
mandatory. Dead workers and a polluted environment in Bangladesh do not go well
together with the desired clean image”.

Apart from the fatal and severe accidents at
the yard that was cutting down the Berge Matterhorn in Bangladesh, the Berge
Vik and the Berge Prosperity ended up on the beaches of Gadani, Pakistan, in
May last year. The destination has recently been shaken by the worst explosion
in the history of the shipbreaking industry that resulted in at least 28
workers dead and more than 50 men severely injured.

Given the age of the vessel and the current
low freight rates, experts assume that the Berge Stahl is soon going for
demolition. When the vessel arrived in Rotterdam, the Platform alerted the
Dutch authorities to ensure that the ship, which becomes hazardous waste under
European and international environmental law once there is an intent to sell it
for scrap, will not be illegally exported to the infamous shipbreaking beaches
of India, Pakistan or Bangladesh. While the authorities have taken the case
very seriously, Berge Bulk was able to reassure them that the vessel will
continue to be operated and will go for dry docking in China. The Platform is
now closely monitoring every move of the ship.

“The vessel’s story is a very good example of
why a European Ship Recycling License is necessary to ensure responsible ship
recycling in the future,” says Ingvild Jenssen, Policy Director and founder of
the Platform. “The Berge Stahl has been coming to Rotterdam for 25 years on a
very regular basis delivering iron ore for German steel producer Thyssen. If
Berge Bulk had set aside funds over 25 years through a mandatory Ship Recycling
License, the ship owner would now have a strong incentive to recycle it in an
EU-approved facility in order to be able to recover the accumulated moneys –
even though the CEO sits in Singapore and could easily circumvent the European
Ship Recycling Regulation by swapping the ship’s current flag, Isle of Man, to
one outside the EU. We call on European lawmakers to effectively regulate the
end-of-life fate of ships that have such close ties to EU trade by supporting
financial incentives such as the Ship Recycling License”.